Victor's Story

Victor Frederick Calvert Toulmin
Born 8th February 1928 London, England
Died 12th July 2003 Mallorca, Spain

Victor's parents Victor and Beatrice were working as a chauffeur and a "nippy" at Lyons Corner House when Victor was evacuated with his younger brother Bruce to Warboys, Cambridgeshire in 1940. Here he found his second home with Frank and Ivy Martin and attended school, delivered groceries, enjoyed the life of a country boy and at the age of 14 years began work as an office boy on Warboys airfield where the American airforce was based. He served as an army cadet working with the Home Guard at Warboys and Ramsey. He entered the Merchant Navy (underage, with his father's permission) and in September 1943 he went to the Training School Vindicatrix, Sharpness, Gloucester where he trained as a deck boy. His first ship was the S.S. Kelmscott and he sailed in many Atlantic convoys to St. John's Newfoundland, St Johns New Brunswick and Halifax etc. He remembered training on bofus guns and encounters with u-boats; to him this was all a great adventure! He retrained in catering and worked as a steward. He joined the Anglo Saxon Petroleum Company on tankers and he mentioned the following ships
MV Niso, MV Naranio and The Thaumastis and many trips to the Far East up to the end of the Second World War. He returned to live in the Fens in the Peterborough area where he married and became a successful businessman in food catering. His lifelong love was of the sea and he spent his last years close to the Mediterranean on the island that he had seen for the first time many years before - from a ship.

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